Chapter 3

Flowery Iris

The sun rose and brought with it the morning light. The foliage swayed about outside, the red and blue flowers brushed gently against the glass window wall. Footsteps echoed through the white tile floor, and stood in front of the hatch-like metal door, Felix impatiently tapped his foot in wait.

For her to still be asleep at this hour... He thought to himself.

After repeatedly knocking on the door, yet the only response he received from her was a sleepy “Hngg…”

Stood in wait, he recalled a memory from long ago, one where Luna went to his room and pulled up the sheets from his body. He nodded to himself and came to the same conclusion.

He sighed before announcing, “I’m opening the door.”

The metal hatch automatically opened as he entered, “Come on, Marie…”

“Hehe… who?” She responded, still in bed and wrapped in blankets.

“Me.”

“Hi me… ehe… ehehe…” She giggled in her slumber.

“Marie…”

Maria buried herself in her sheets and blurted out, “Whaddaya want? Let me sleep forever…”

Felix entered the room with a scowl, perusing the messy, cluttered room with a disappointed expression. Yet his eyes squinted as the first thing that caught his attention was the light from the scattered shards of a broken mirror on top of her make-up filled desk.

“What happened to your mirror?” He mumbled under his breath.

He looked at his own hand, and a memory resurfaced. A warm smile from a white-haired woman.

With a focused gaze, he reached out his hand from where he stood, hoping to call out the power he once had. “Come on, work.”

Felix’s expression filled up with desperation, his hand shook, yet as soon as a drop of sweat slid down from his temple to his chin, nothing happened.

With a sigh, he walked towards it and picked up one of the shards, and took a long look at his reflection. There was nothing but disappointment hiding behind his mismatched eyes.

“Mhhmm~! Good morning.” The dark-haired young woman stretched out her arms.

He placed the shard back on the table, changing his disappointed expression with a more presentable one as he faced her, “About time you woke up, it’s ten A.M.”

“I was having some of that good sleep. Wait… what are you doing in my room?” She mumbled as the bedsheet covering her fell off her chest.

As she slowly looked down, her eyes widened and her face turned beet-red.

Felix’s eyebrows raised slightly. Covered only in her underwear, her slender frame was in full view. The dark-haired woman pounced out of her bed and quickly wrapped herself in bedsheets.

“Wh-what’s wrong with you—?!”

Felix let out a smirk and replied, “Heh, a great, many—”

Yet before he could finish, the pillow launched at him like a cannon, covered in a red haze as it tore out the edges of his raven-black hair, before promptly cracking the window walls outside her room. With a look of fright, he returned his gaze toward her as his eyes radiated a faint blue glow, only to see Maria’s face, flustered and flushed in red with eyes tightly closed.

“Get out!” she cried as she began to throw whatever she could get her hands on toward him.

He caught everything she threw at him and gently put them down in an attempt to calm her down.

“I can’t get out if you keep throwing— Eh, what’s this…?” He distractedly said as he inspected a black, oily substance that slithered out of the bottle he caught.

“N-No fair! You’re using Blue Mode!” She bumbled to speak, snapping Felix out of his threatened state.

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“I just…what is this— Wait, Blue Mode? Does that mean that…” He turned to face her while the black fluid clung to his hand.

Maria whimpered, still clinging to one of her pillows, “Get out of my room!”

“Fine, fine.” He replied as he walked away.

With an infuriated smile, she clenched her fist in response.

Does that mean my powers triggered from her bloodlust?

Clueless and curious, Felix left the room with his hand on his chin. But felt a chill down his spine. A sixth sense suddenly screamed for self-preservation. Another pillow was hurled with immense speed and power.

As he got out of it’s way, however, a shrill shriek pierced the corridor.

“KYAH!” A girl from outside cried out as she plopped down, ambushed and struck by the weight of a pillow.

“Marie! Careful!” He glanced over at her.

“Sorry!” Maria cried out as the door automatically shut.

The girl’s body was sprawled out. Her silvery-white hair scattered across the floor’s surface, while her face was covered by the pillow. Beside her, a blond young man sighed with a detached manner, not even bothering to glance over to her. His face was obscured by the shadow against the morning light, and his hands tucked his dark red coat’s pockets.

“I’m sorry about what happened…” Felix knelt down, lifting the pillow off her face.

As he did, the young lady placed her palms against his cheek. Felix pulled back slightly, startled by her soft touch as she muttered, “Your eyes… they’re like flowers.”

Her thumb caressing the mole under his right eye, as if trying to wipe away a blemish in a clean canvas.

The white-haired woman found herself captivated in his azure eyes. An ethereal light bloomed from his iris, flowing out like tides and weaving intricate details that resembled petals. Not reflecting the world’s light, but rather creating it’s own.

Though the same could be said of her own. A cosmic crimson shining in hers.

“My eyes…?” Felix blinked, lost in thought.

My face felt hot as her palms touched my cheeks. Her hands were soft and cold and smelled of citrus. Her face was small and cute, no, beautiful even. With bright red eyes held a piercing gaze, yet I found that my focus was drawn mostly to her long silvery hair. It reminded me so much of—

“Like a flowery iris… It’s a lot like ours...” Her voice was soft as sweet.

He slowly asked, “Who… are you—?”

“Come on, Isa. A hit like that shouldn’t have taken you out.” The blond man said as he knelt down next to them.

With his back turned from the window, the shadows obscured his face. And yet his eyes could be seen clearly, radiating with the same crimson light as the girl on the floor.

He extending his hand, but to Felix’s surprise, instead of helping her get up, he reached for the pillow.

The silver-haired girl pressed her arms behind her head, and sprang back to her feet with a kip-up, “Sorry, it just caught me off guard! Hehe.” She playfully grinned.

As the two of them got up, so did Felix. The blue-eyed young man got a clear look at the two in front of him. The girl with silver-hair and crimson eyes was dressed in a white blouse with fitted black pants, while the blond man beside her stood half a foot taller than him, with golden hair and keen facial features. His eyes were sharp, painfully sharp, and had an air of danger surrounding him.

“That girl just now had a mean swing… I’d like to compare.” The red-eyed man spoke, pulling back his arm with his hand clenched on the pillow.

“What do you—?”

With a wry smile and a tinge of red glow, the pillow instantly escaped Felix’s line of sight. Followed by a loud bang that echoed through the corridors.

“What?!” Maria yelled out from her room as she was in the middle of changing.

Felix turned his head to Maria’s door. A cold sweat dripped down from his face as he tried to process what had happened. After a small pause, he then returned his sight back to the two strange guests, but the two were already far across the hall.

The blond visitor looked back and said, “So you’re the Blue Phantom? Frankly, I’m not impressed.”

The silver-haired woman looked at him remarked, “You’re so petty.”

“Who… are you two?” Felix asked, looking at the door.

The blond young man looked over his shoulder and waved, “I have a feeling you’ll find out very soon.”

With a gentle smile, she responded, “Actually, the two of us are—”

He covered her mouth and groaned, “Don’t answer him!”

The two then turned the corridor and left.

“Gobshite.” Felix whispered under his breath as he watched them walk away.

When the two were gone, the door opened as Maria haggardly burst out, apparent in her appearance as how much she hurried, “Okay! I’m dressed! What was that noi—NANI THE FUCK?!” She shouted as she saw the consequences of her actions.

The entrance to her room had been marked with a crater, decorated with traces of cloth and cotton.

“That was probably payback.” Felix shrugged. The blue in his right iris slowly faded, and returned into a pitch-black color.

“This is an iron-door! They dented it! WITH A PILLOW! MY PILLOW!” Maria put her hands on the sides of her head. The shock of seeing the remains of her pillow embedded into her silvery door is apparent from her expression.

“Yeah. It’s... strange… those two…”

“They… might be fun.” Maria whispered under her breath with a grin on her face.

“Sigh, What’s wrong with—”

“No. No! You do not! Get to say that. Right now!” She yelled with a sulky, sour expression. She then slammed the metal door.

Felix, stunned by the metallic bang, was about to knock. “Marie, I…” But he stopped short shy of a few inches. With a sigh, he placed his hands against his chin. The blue in his right eye faded as he silently walked away, deep in thought.

Inside her room, Maria leaned against her bent metal door, listening to his every step.

She slid down and picked up the small bottle on the ground, rubbing the slick substance between her thumb and index finger. With a flustered expression, she let out a deep sigh and muttered to herself, “Idiot…”

When she got up and opened the door, she looked to the hallway and weakly called out, “Felix…”

However, she was greeted by the face of an older man with gray hair and a mustache.

“Hm? Murphy?”

“Miss Readman, the chief has requested an audience.”

“Oh, alright.” She nodded, before looking the other direction, “Can I have breakfast first?”

~